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BJP's national executive in Patna on June 12-13 is expected to provide political fodder to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, who is gearing up for the Bihar elections due by this year-end.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari's dog remark seems to have already consolidated his own commu

BJP's national executive in Patna on June 12-13 is expected to provide political fodder to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, who is gearing up for the Bihar elections due by this year-end.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari's dog remark seems to have already consolidated his own community behind Lalu.

And now, Gadkari's physical presence in Patna and the prospect of him addressing a rally there has given many ideas to his party and supporters. "We will see how Gadkari holds a rally in Patna. He did not just abuse Lalu, he insulted all the Dalits and backward communities in Bihar," said RJD MP Rajniti Prasad from Patna.

Compounding this problem for the BJP, and more importantly for their alliance partner Nitish Kumar, is the inevitable presence of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi at the national executive. Modi's arrival in Patna is an excellent opportunity BJP benefit for the RJD chief to woo back the Muslims.

In the last assembly polls, the Muslims had deserted Lalu in favour of the Janata Dal (United) and the Congress.

Lalu has been trying to rake up the issue of Nitish's alliance with the BJP to alienate the Muslims but that strategy has not worked. The Bihar chief minister has also done well to keep Narendra Modi away from the state, not only during the election campaigns during the assembly and Lok Sabha polls but also while the JD(U)-BJP government was being sworn in the state.

"But at a BJP function, Modi cannot be stopped. This is what Lalu has been dreaming of. He was telling us even during the election campaign that we should get Modi to Bihar. Now that he will be in Patna, Lalu will make the most of it," said a BJP leader.

As if the two factors were not worrying enough for the BJP, the state unit is undergoing a series of ruptures since the new president C.P. Thakur took over.

Thakur's selection of office-bearers led to such friction with deputy chief minister Sushil Modi that the party high command had to step in to stop it from snowballing into yet another crisis.

Thakur appointed a co-convener of the BJP's media cell in Delhi, Sanjay Mayuk, as the state unit general secretary while ignoring the claim of senior leaders such as Rajender Gupta. A meeting had to be called by Arun Jaitley in Delhi earlier this week where several such decisions were reversed.

Mayuk has since been demoted as vice- president while Gupta has been made the general secretary.

"There may be corpses lying in the party headquarters in Patna and they are talking about holding a national executive meeting," said a Bihar leader.

But Thakur is optimistic. "The meeting will be highly successful. There is no problem with the RJD, the president (Gadkari) has already apologised. Our workers are very enthusiastic," Thakur said over the phone from Arrah in Bihar.

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